Jan. 30 [14:00 EST] -- Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera was unceremoniously booted from the group by his bandmates (including his brother, Igor) after 14 years together, and has sounded off on the move in a six-page handwritten release.

According the release (which Max called a "sad, heartfull [sic] statement"), the rest of Sepultura (Igor Cavalera, Andreas Kisser, and Paulo Jr.) "pretty much forced" Max and wife Gloria, who managed the band, out of of the group.

For Max, who wrote, "I am the person who started it all, writing the name Sepultura in the back of my schoolbooks in Brazil," the dispatch was devastating.

While he was crushed and stunned by his dismissal, he claims that he will carry fond memories away from his days with the band.

"I'll always remember Sepultura as a band that never compromised (Live, QuickTime, 1MB), never sold out, never put up with the bulls**t that goes on within the music industry, and for that I'm very proud."

While Max's career future seems uncertain, he calls music "my religion, my food, my drug, my own world," and he goes on to write, "our mission continues, unfortunally (sic) without Sepultura."